For the second year running, World Architecture News was delighted to be a major media and content partner of UK Construction Week which was held at the NEC in Birmingham between 18 and 20 October. WAN hosted three theatre sessions involving city leaders and professionals and also made two WAN AWARDS winning announcements at the event.

One of the highlights on Tuesday 18 October was WAN’s panel discussion on Inspirational Infrastructure. With major announcements being made about Crossrail and Heathrow and with Brexit on the horizon infrastructure projects in the fields of transport and energy are currently attracting a lot of attention.

The session concluded with the winning announcement of the WAN Infrastructure Award 2016, highlighting some of the key international projects being realised today.

Another highlight later on Tuesday was a thought-provoking discussion that was held to debate the wave of regeneration projects that are set to transform Birmingham city centre, A Tale of Three Cities: Birmingham. With the coming of HS2, and longer term links to the Northern Powerhouse, a once in a generation window of opportunity is opening up for the area.

A Tale of Three Cities: chair Brian Kilkelly draws on the highlights from the session…

During the session Liz Peace, Chair of Birmingham Curzon Urban Regeneration Company highlighted how Birmingham’s location, the competitive level of property pricing, infrastructure plans, and a high level of public and private support were key drivers for success. Richard Cowell, from Planning and Regeneration at Birmingham City Council described the city as one the ‘youngest in Europe’ with a rising community of start-ups exploiting the many offerings of the city including its growing international reach. Zoe Davidson, Head of Regeneration Advisory at KPMG praised the strong strategy and growing sense of identity that has proven in many other cities to be a foundation for attractiveness. Hiro Aso, Firm-wide Aviation & Transportation Practice Area Leader at Gensler drew parallels with Baltimore in the US where social connectivity, green spaces, and authenticity were sited as crucial to the rise of the city.

This is certainly an exciting time for the city but we also discussed the challenges – especially in terms of ensuring the whole city benefits from the huge infrastructure investments. Richard highlighted that as well as the development opportunities around the major transport hubs such as Curzon Street, the city was paying attention to the ‘in-between’ places so that they benefited from greater connectivity and access. Liz recognised this challenge also – referring to the classic ‘doughnut shaped’ development of cities and highlighting how Birmingham is exploiting public sector led developments such as Selly Oak Hospital to catalyse investment in the ‘gaps’. Hiro agreed that considering the integration of developments into their physical context was key, citing Canary Wharf which until recently had failed to achieve this.

Looking ahead at how Birmingham can also thrive through the global challenge of climate change and energy volatility, Richard highlighted the council’s ambitious strategy to use its ownership of the Smithfield development to inspire and stimulate the cities transition to a low carbon economy. Learning from other cities across Europe and the world, Birmingham is drawing in experts to help apply the latest innovative thinking to this transition. The EU’s largest climate innovation initiative, Climate-KIC is one of these sources of ideas and support. Cities and developers seeking to learn from Birmingham and others are invited to participate in their upcoming Climate Innovation Summit next month in Frankfurt.

Media content

For the second year running, World Architecture News is delighted to announce its appointment as a major media and content partner of UK Construction Week, the country’s largest and most important built environment industry event. UKCW, which launched last year, will once again take place at the NEC, Birmingham from 18 to 20 October 2016.

At an official reception during UKCW itself this October, WAN will be announcing the winners of two of its awards 2016 categories. These are the Concrete Award and the Infrastructure Award, sponsored by the Surfaces & Materials Show and the new Civils Expo respectively. The shows are two of a total of nine taking place under the UKCW umbrella this year.

WAN will take to the stage, hosting 3 theatre sessions across the course of the event, involving high-level forums of city leaders and professionals. See below for the following activities:

Tuesday 18th October

11.00 – 12.30 – Inspirational Infrastructure, Civils Theatre

Now in the run-in towards Brexit with all the inherent baggage of uncertainty, markets consolidate and investors focus on minimising risk; and as often happens in times of recession, infrastructure projects come to the fore as one of the safe havens for investment funds. One of many challenges facing architects and engineers in this field is how to create not just a functional project but an inspirational one, projects where function and aesthetic come together. World Architecture News’ panel of experts discuss the need for inspirational infrastructure and how it makes a difference.

The session concludes with the winning announcement of the WAN Infrastructure Award 2016, highlighting some of the key international projects being realised today.

12.15 – 13.15 – A Tale of Three Cities: Birmingham, Main Stage

With the coming of HS2, and longer term links to the Northern Powerhouse, a once in a generation window of opportunity is opening to shape the regeneration of the city centre. In association with World Architecture News (WAN) and the Birmingham Development Forum, this keynote panel will consider how we can bring together expertise and learn from other cities’ experiences to ensure joined-up thinking between infrastructure, commercial, transport and residential development. The discussion will include the views of the construction sectors, developers, local authorities, planning experts and architects to explore the realms of urban design.

Chaired by Brian Kilkelly, Development Lead – Climate-KIC and Founder, World Cities Network

Concrete came to the rescue as a cheap and fast material to resurrect Birmingham’s city centre in the 50s and 60s. However, the mix of shopping centres, tower blocks and the infamous spaghetti junction gave Birmingham the ‘concrete jungle’ name tag.

World Architecture News’ expert panel comes together to discuss concrete in architecture and how advances in technology have enabled the literal rebirth of concrete as a high performance material for its sculptural qualities and sophisticated 3D forms that simply weren’t possible before. In light of Birmingham’s current regeneration, the panel looks at how concrete is being used in architecture today, enabling some ground-breaking projects.

In the run up to the crucial referendum on 23rd June, UK Construction Week and World Architecture News bring industry leaders together in London to examine the potential impact of a Brexit on the industry. Should we stay or we should go? The event will lead a panel of experts from a cross-section of the industry touching on some of the vital topics that will undoubtedly be affected. Issues such as skills shortage, inward investment, exporting & importing, the housing crisis, and any major projects such as HS2 and Heathrow that could be hampered by the decision to leave Europe.

At Grimshaw’s London office the following panelists come together to discuss the issues at hand:

Chaired by Brian Kilkelly, Development Lead – Climate-KIC and Founder, World Cities Network